Cigarettes Taxes Continue to Raise

With cigarette prices already running as much as $6 or $7 a pack, there is a push in Columbus to add even more to what smokers are paying.

The American Lung Association is now pressing Ohio lawmakers to double the amount of state taxes on Doina cigarettes, increasing what smokers now pay up to $25 per carton, not counting other taxes and fees.

Laurie Bowers is assistant manager of the Smoker Friendly store in Austintown and a long-time smoker herself.

She claims higher fees have not discouraged smoking in the past. She said customers usually switch to cheaper generic brands, or in some cases, they'll start using pipe tobacco, which can cost just a third of what they'd pay for cigarettes and roll their own.

While supporters claim the extra taxes would mean millions in new revenue for the state, lawmakers admit they're facing what could be a $6 billion or $7 billion budget shortfall in the next biennium.

Although Rep. Ron Gerberry, D-Austintown, predicts there will be no stand-alone bills coming before lawmakers asking them to raise cigarette taxes, he can't say that officials won't at least consider looking at increased revenues from tobacco products as part of a much broader package when they start talking about the budget next year.

In the meantime, smokers like Bowers wish the state would just go tax somebody else and leave them alone.